Let me tell you a little story...Once upon a time there was a city called Here And Now...and there was a family from that city whose last name was Mericanaa. Due to the circumstances of the times and the pending destruction of the city in which they lived, the Mericanaa family was forced to move out of Here And Now, and travel to another city. Now the Mericanaa family was aware that there was a wide open road to a neighboring city up to the north-east, which was called Chaos. But the city of Chaos was a dark and evil place, a place of violence, crime, death; it had been aptly given its name, for it was full of, well...chaos!The Mericanaa family also knew of a small town off to the north-west which was named Question. Now the town of Question was also doomed to be destroyed, but shortly after the destruction of Here And Now, so one could rest safe at least for a while there. Beyond the town of Question, farther north and farther west, further up and further in, was yet another city, this city's name was Hope. The Mericanaa family's only trepidation at traveling to Question was that they were not sure whether or not there was a road that spanned from Question to Hope. But time was running short, the Mericanaa's only had about three and a half days to leave Here and Now, so lengthy indecisiveness was dangerous. The Mericanaa family was quite large...so as you can imagine, disagreement broke out as to what to do. Some of them were all for going straight to Chaos, while others pleaded to go on to the town of Question and find out if there really was a road that lead to Hope. Still others thought that they might just stay in Here And Now, let the rest go ahead, and then send back word, if there was a road to Hope so that they could go that way, or if there was not, they would take the big highway straight to Chaos.Finally the Father of the Maricanaa family let his fist firmly strike the table, the bickering crowd turned to him in surprise, but his action had taken it's desired effect, they were silent. "My dear family," Mr. Mericanaa began, "this whole argument is futile!" "Look here," he continued and pointed at the map spread out before him "look at this little road that runs from Question to the main highway that leads to Chaos. Has no one yet noticed this?" He added in an irritated tone. "The only sensible thing to do, is to go staight way to Question, we can at least rest there a few hours..." His voice trailed off as he quietly sighed and passed his sun browned and work calloused hand over his wrinkled face and white beard, then he continued. "If there is a road out of Question that leads to the lovely city of Hope, then we will of course take it. But if there is no road, and if it is hopeless wasteland, or a wide river far too wide to cross...Alas! Our maps are not very good!" he exclaimed. Mr. Mericanaa looked about him at his family, many, many, faces were there, young, old, infants, teenagers, gray haired and stooped figures, though none of them were as old as he was. Mr. Mericanaa, Samuel was his name, looked about him grieved, so many in his family didn't care, many of them were playing on their smart phones and he wondered if they had even heard him, he wondered if it was all worth it, or if they should just resignedly march up to the city of Chaos... But his back straightened as he remembered the long history of the Mericanaa family, and how God had always been with them, and carried them through the toughest times. Even though there were now some in the crowd around him who didn't care, or didn't really know the danger they were in, or those who knew the danger, but wouldn't budge because of various personal reasons, despite all these, he had made up his mind. Mr. Mericanaa was encouraged by those in his family whose faces strained towards him, eye's glimmered with courage, and still radiating a lingering hope. "Yes," Mr. Sam Mericanaa said, as if to reassure himself, "Yes, if there is a road there, we will take it, by all means. But if there is not, and we are doomed to move to that terrible city of Chaos, then we can easily take this short road across to the main highway." "Does anyone object?" he asked determinedly as he looked out from under his bushy white eyebrows. "If anyone does," he added without giving time for a response, "listen to this. Look, even if you don't gain Hope, even if we don't get what we all want, or most of us," Mr. Mericanaa added in a lowered voice as a black look crossed his face, "even if you don't get peace, away from all of this destruction, you will not have lost anything from where you started." "See?" he pointed at the map, and traced the routs with his finger, "Look at it this way, we either go straight to Chaos from here or we go up to Question, and then just cross over this way and still arrive at Chaos, and it really isn't that much out of the way!" "And by taking this second rout, maybe, just maybe, we can go on to Hope and avoid that filthy city of Chaos all together!" Mr. Sam added in a gentler tone, "I look forward to seeing many more generations of my grandchildren, and I don't want this family of mine to be torn apart in that wild city of Chaos." Sam smiled down at a young girl who stood beside him, her eye's intent on the map, he placed his hand on her head and she looked up at him, he said in a voice as if he were talking to himself, "Many here I love, and many in my family I hate, but they are all my kin, and I want the best for the future generations. I want them all to have the same freedom that I have had during so much of my life. Pray child, pray. May God Bless the whole Mericanaa family!"The end....but not really the end, that depends on God's blessed Providence and all of you, tools in His hand...

I have another copy of that family's map--but mine is a bit more legible...it shows that there really is a track through the mountains from Question to Hope; and, not only that--there is also a way that leads from Chaos over to Hope--but that one is indeed treacherous--winding through swamps and bogs, amid forests filled with fierce wolves, over steep mountain passes, even through tunnels channeled out of the rock long years before. The venerable Mr. Sam doesn't know this--but one of the finest copies of the map is actually up in the city of Chaos--but it is displayed turned upside down, so anyone who lives there who might try to escape to Hope always ends up going in the complete opposite direction...unless--and it does happen sometimes--he happens to believe the little old lady who sits on the street corner under the map telling people that it is upside down....